In just over a month, a group of us will be heading back over to Victoria for this years episode of the 3 Peaks challenge… (https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/General/great-rides/42359/)

For those unaware of the ride, this is a one day epic, held in the alpine region of Victoria about 5 hours North of Melbourne.

With 230km and 4000m vertical of climbing, preparation for the ride is key.

Long hard rides often comes down to a couple of things:

1. Is your body ready for the effort you’re going to put it through, and

2. How well you can supply your body with fuel (and electrolytes if it’s hot)

Lets look at the physical side first. Like most people, I don’t have the luxury of spending lots of long days out training in the hills, and fortunately, I think there are other ways to prepare for events like the 3 peaks.

It should be obvious from the name, but this event is made up of 3 long climbs. The Tarwonga gap climb is 30-45mins worth of climbing, and the Hotham and Falls Creek climbs are longer, taking 1hr45+ each. Whilst there are some steep pitches on both climbs, both of them are long enough, and steady enough to settle into a nice rhythm. Doing time trials of longer than 1 hour, or solo rides of 1-2hrs where you keep a fast but constant pace are great preparation for the climbs, without actually having to spend all day in the hills. Like time trialling, climbing long hills is a lot about knowing where your lactic threshold is, and finding a steady effort just below it. There’s nothing worse than getting caught up in the excitement of the event and pushing yourself into the red in the first 30 minutes of climbing. It’s a hole you probably won’t dig yourself out of.

The other thing that is worth practising, is your fuelling strategy.

Gels, energy drinks and electrolytes have their place, but all too often people only use them at big events, and can suffer the consequences of either running out of energy, or worse, making themselves ill. Just as it’s a risk to use a bike you’ve never ridden before on a long event, taking gels with you that you’ve never used before, can lead to the same kind of problems.

A gel has roughly enough energy in it to fuel you for about 30mins of cycling. For an event like the 3 peaks, which takes most riders more than 10hours to complete, that’s a lot of gels. Often the high sugar content can lead to an upset stomach, especially with the non isotonic gels that need you to drink a lot of water (usually 500ml) with each gel. Recently I’ve been experimenting with using baby food sachets to mix up the high sugar gels, with some “real” food. I’ve had a lot of success with this, especially for days with early starts where it may not have been possible to get a large breakfast in (and digested) before setting off… There is lots of information out there about nutrition for endurance sports, and everyone reacts slightly differently. The key message here is understand what your body can digest on the bike, and try it out in your training rides before the event.

If you’re at the 3 peaks, keep your eyes open for the AURA kit, and come say hi if you see us.